Picking up the Sicilian Najdorf. Can anyone list some variations?

well, I certainly would not want to play that (post 22)! Way to crazy! I'm not lev polugaevsky lol. Also.... Post 22. says that the poisoned pawn is only for Masters and computers, and follows by recommending the polugaevsky?!

Bg5 is out of style now, anyways. I'm a dragon player, but I went through a phase of playing the najdorf. After getting crushed by my coach in that line like 20 times in a row without even putting up a fight, I gave it up. I prefer the dragon, where the plans are more clear.

I jsut looked up the theory to that one line in post 22, and was not surprized at all. The opening is nonsense. If you ever want to play this against somebody more than 200 rating points less than you, or over 1600 USCF, you're going to end up in a lot of trouble very quickly. Of course, the opposite will be true if you play against weak opponents.

I strongly recommend taking your focus on memorization and using it to learn more tactical patterns than your brain has room for. Then you'll break 2000 and can study openings, when you are actually more likely to get into them. You won't see many actual Najdorf's at your level, and when you do you are much more likely to lose after going out of theory because your opponent will have better development and easier attacks.

There was a time when more than a quarter of the games in master tournaments were Nadjorf Sicilians. Back in the early 70s, of course there were far fewer tournaments then, but that's how popular it was. We didn't have internet, you might see a few games three months later in Chess Life or be able to buy a cheaply produced "tournament book" with just the game scores (less than what a decent bulletin is) from Chess Digest six months later. For minor tournaments, you never saw the games, the ideas might be found by stronger players and filter up.

The Nadjorf is one of the richest openings in chess. There are many options for both sides which lead to entirely different sorts of game, from positional struggles to tactical firefights.

But as IM pfren noted, you need to have a firm foundation to enter these troubled waters, beginning canoers should not attempt the high classes of rapids. It does you no more good to try to learn the Nadjorf before you are ready than it does to take calculus before you have learned algebra.

My teacher told me to pick up the Najdorf and to do some pre studying. So far i know i wont always get the open sicilian so ive studied for some of the main non open lines for instance, Grand prix attack, 2. c3 sicilian, and a few other 2.Nc3 closed side lines. What other non open sicilian lines do i have to study that are fairly common? As for Najdorf itself ive done some extensive studying into the Old mainline of 6.Bg5and the English attack.Oh ive also studied the morra.What lines am i missing?

What other non open sicilian lines do i have to study that are fairly common?

You need to know the g3 line: 1.e4 c5 2.g3 or 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.g3 (there are alot of transpositions from this line into Nc3 Closed Sicilian, Grand Prix Attack, and c3 Sicilian.

What lines am i missing?

You need to know the following 2 anti-Sicilians

Moscow: 1.e4 c5 2.Bb5+

Rossolimo: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+

You can combine,"... also studied the morra...." and the "...2.c3 Sicilian..."by studying the Alapin 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6. With the Smith-Morra the move order is usually 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6.

As for Najdorf itself ive done some extensive studying into the Old mainline of 6.Bg5

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 you also need to know 7.g4 (The Perenyi Attack- the little brother of the Keres Attack in the Scheveningen) Also I would recommend studying a book titled, "Play the Najdorf/Scheveningen Style"

In addition I would recommend that you purchase GM John Nunn's 2 books: